As a few of you have remarked, my predictions for the Grand Prix Final were oh so terribly wrong. Although my predictions are incorrect a lot of the time, these ones were wrong through and through and when I thought about it, I drew these conclusions:

Not having the 2nd half of TEB really messed things up. I point to my overestimation of Gold and Chan’s abilities. I thought they were going to medal here but I suspect that should TEB have played out completely, their weakness for this season would have been a lot more clear.

Never base your predictions on your hopes. Just stick to the status quo until it changes.

Even if you do stick with the status quo, ice is slippery. I did not think that anyone could beat Duhamel & Radford. Their streak is over.

HAPPY 2016! They say in Japan that your first dream of the year is an omen for things to come. If that’s true, then I hope you all had wonderful dreams last night.

If it’s not, thank the heck goodness because I had nightmares where I was in a weird survival situation where I shot a kid and had to carry a canoe through the forest. I think I was probably in one of those dystopian worlds that’s so popular nowadays. Either way, the shock of my dream murder woke me up and I swear I shed one tear (I was super upset over my dream actions – no, seriously) and then fell asleep again… only to have another nightmare where all my friends left me alone and then I proceeded to buy over $200 in cake to drown my sorrows in. My dreams are messed up. I hope, if anything, that you found them humorous, it’ll be a consolation that my twisted nightmares gave someone delight.

In any case, catharsis aside, I usually post a video of an up and coming skater in on New Year’s Day as a reminder of things to come and look forward to. Looking at the juniors, I have been enjoying Marin Honda’s skating for a while and so I thought I’d post a video of her. It’s not a perfect performance but she’s still a joy to watch and a breath of fresh air, which may be what I need right now.

Enjoy!

~Rinkside Cafe

P.S. The GPF recap post is coming. I still have yet to catch up with everything. If my nightmares are any indication, a lot of stressful things have been happening lately and I’m doing my best to stay afloat. I will aim to have it done next week.